mcarroll
10K Club member
Someone else chimed in that a 26 worked well over their 60 cube (24x24x24")...and later it worked well over half of their 75 gal.
My Last Word On The Prime (and 26)
I'm still not saying the Prime is the best option...that depends.
A prime is supposed to cover that space and depth OK and overlap would make another peak lighting zone.
This graphic is supposed to be a Prime HD at 24" from the light through air, not water.
Over the OP's tank, he'd want the Primes at about 10" off the water if he wanted to keep all the light in the tank, so the PAR numbers would be more than double what the chart says. A peak of 200-300 PAR down to around 100 at the edges, plus a boost from any overlap or internally reflected light.
@hart24601 had some great pics of a Prime array for a tank that I think was a similar size to this. Well, bigger, but similar...he had five Primes, IIRC.
Good point on the mounting hardware - I hadn't though of that and it actually does add significantly to the cost.
Quite significantly!
Let's Look At The 52
A Hydra 52 would have to be mounted at about 15" off the water to fully cover the tank from side to side. This causes a lot more light spill (wasted energy AND annoying) over the front and back of the tank though.
Not a factor with multiple Primes.
Some Diagrams
These are all "mathematically correct" and in proportion with the light set up as described.
First is the 52HD, then a two different configurations of Prime HD's.
Below that is a depiction of the Orbit Pro just for reference.
It's worth pointing out that lighting the back part of the tank will have algae grown within the filter compartment.
My Last Word On The Prime (and 26)
I'm still not saying the Prime is the best option...that depends.
A prime is supposed to cover that space and depth OK and overlap would make another peak lighting zone.
This graphic is supposed to be a Prime HD at 24" from the light through air, not water.
Over the OP's tank, he'd want the Primes at about 10" off the water if he wanted to keep all the light in the tank, so the PAR numbers would be more than double what the chart says. A peak of 200-300 PAR down to around 100 at the edges, plus a boost from any overlap or internally reflected light.
@hart24601 had some great pics of a Prime array for a tank that I think was a similar size to this. Well, bigger, but similar...he had five Primes, IIRC.
Good point on the mounting hardware - I hadn't though of that and it actually does add significantly to the cost.
Quite significantly!Let's Look At The 52
A Hydra 52 would have to be mounted at about 15" off the water to fully cover the tank from side to side. This causes a lot more light spill (wasted energy AND annoying) over the front and back of the tank though.
Not a factor with multiple Primes.
Some Diagrams
These are all "mathematically correct" and in proportion with the light set up as described.
First is the 52HD, then a two different configurations of Prime HD's.
Below that is a depiction of the Orbit Pro just for reference.
It's worth pointing out that lighting the back part of the tank will have algae grown within the filter compartment.
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